“Business is a Contact Sport” by Tom Richardson, Augusto Vidaurreta,
and Tom Gorman (ISBN 0-02-864163-9) makes the case for a dedicated
Chief Relationship Officer or a team for dealing with all the
important relationships a company has. It contains twelve principles:

See relationships as valuable assets.

Develop a game plan.

Create ownership for relationships

Transform contacts into connections.

Move into the win-win zone.

Get to know your stakeholders as people.

Build bonds of trust with all stakeholders.

Banish relationship killers.

When something breaks, fix it fast.

Get rolling and maintain momentum.

Maximize the long-term value of relationships.

Keep the wins coming, stakeholder by stakeholder.

The appendix is pure gold. It’s a list of typical wins for the
different stakeholders in company relationships. Keep it in mind when
you’re dealing with people, and look for ways to help them win!